Chapter 236: Desperate Cry For Help
I left Meira in Sassy's care, heading back to my own room. I was almost there when my cell phone rang. Now what? I almost ignored it, sure it was Alison pulling one of her drama queen moments, but sighed and checked it anyway.
Not Alison. Angela, her mother. A poke of panic jabbed me as I answered.
"Syd," the woman's voice was breathless, panicked. "I need your help. She won't listen to me."
"What's going on?" I was already heading out my bedroom door, not caring how I was dressed, pounding my way down the stairs as Angela sobbed once.
"She's drunk," she whispered. I could hear someone yelling in the background, the sound of shattering glass. "I can't make her stop. Please, Syd, she'll listen to you, I know it."
"I'm on my way." I hung up, already behind the wheel, tossing the cell phone onto the passenger seat as I fired up Minnie's engine and squealed out of my driveway.
It was the fastest drive of my life and I even used magic to make sure the cops looked the other way. Minnie's tires protested as I took the turn into the Morgan's long driveway, but she held on, propelling us up the hill.
I barely had the parking brake set and I was out of the car, racing up the steps and through the front door without knocking. The place was huge, corridors leading off in all directions, huge staircase beckoning me upward. My magic reached out in haste, finding my target even as the sound of Alison screaming incoherently led me at a solid run, still in my bare feet, toward the back of the house and the kitchen.
I burst through the door to a scene from a nightmare: Angela clutched at her arm, blood leaking out between her fingers, tears pouring down her face as she huddled in the corner of the cabinets. Rosetta, the evil little Chosen member turned maid, crouched behind the center island, terrified and muttering to herself in Spanish.
But it was Alison my gaze sought out and found. She stood near the sink, a huge kitchen knife in one hand, a bottle of vodka in the other. Her head whipped around as I burst into the kitchen, wild eyes bulging.
"Syd-"Angela's terrified voice shook. "Be careful."
My demon hummed, smelling blood, but she knew better. No way was I letting the taint of that touch my magic. I focused on Alison, easing forward, both hands extended as if she were a wild animal I had to subdue.
"Hey, Al." Hard to keep your tone light when faced with a blade-wielding alcoholic with a very bad temper, but I managed. "What's up?"
"Go away!" She threw the bottle at me, arm swinging wide. I was lucky she had terrible aim, though I felt the sting of something against my neck as the heavy vodka container struck a cabinet and shattered. Angela whimpered while Rosetta's praying-it had to be praying because she crossed herself over and over again- increased in speed and volume.
I had several options, and none of them good. I could try to talk her down, knowing how impossible that was when Alison was like this. I could walk away. Or I could use magic on her. Shaylee's Sidhe magic would be able to shield me from the negative power in the room from Angela's dripping arm and the trickle now running down my throat and into the top of my T-shirt. But using magic meant revealing more than I should at a time when I didn't dare give Celeste further ammunition.
"This is all your fault." Alison's voice was slurred, high pitched, but I could still make her out as she jabbed toward her mother with the tip of the knife. The blade was massive, a chef's special of some kind. "I hate you! You never loved me." Tears tracked down her face, through her makeup, running black lines over her cheeks. "You never loved me."
"Al," I said as softly as I could, "please give me the knife."
She spun on me then, the blade swinging wide as she snarled her hate in my direction. I could feel it, a tangible thing, fed by alcohol and years of emotional damage. "Go away! You ruin everything, you always ruin everything." I half ducked, worried she might throw the knife again, but she hung onto it, slashing the air as if it were my body she attacked.
When Alison turned the blood-tinted steel on herself, I froze. "Why am I even here anymore?" She swayed, the sharp blade sliding over the inside of her arm, a thin stream of red appearing. Alison looked down at it, almost startled by the pain, but when she looked up again, I saw truth in her eyes.
Out of time. My demon lashed out as Alison drove the knife deep into the artery in her wrist and severed it.
She fell to the floor as my magic knocked her unconscious, my demon searing the cut in the vein and quelling the flow of blood. I know Angela saw the flicker of amber fire, I'm certain she knew something weird happened, but she was so freaked out she just collapsed slowly to the floor, high heels slipping out from under her. She sat there, skirt up around her hips, blood everywhere, and sobbed.
Rosetta met my eyes with even more hate than Alison and scuttled from the room. I let her go, not giving a crap if she saw. The Chosen of the Light didn't scare me, her kind now powerless and leaderless. Besides, I had to act, had to.
I'd pay for it later, I was sure. But there was no way I was going to just stand here and watch my best friend kill herself.
Alison's arm still leaked blood, but the beginning gush wasn't pumping her life out onto the floor at least. I quickly wrapped a towel around her arm before turning to Angela.
"Call 911." She stared at me through her sobs, whole body shaking so much I could barely maintain eye contact. Shaylee released a thin thread of earth magic, instilling in the woman a false calm, but enough Angela finally blinked and quieted. The boost wouldn't last. She'd dissolve into shock again quickly. But it was enough that when I shoved the phone into her hands she automatically dialed.
I went right back to Alison and checked her over. My demon hissed at the amount of alcohol in her system, but I pulled her back from trying to do something about it. I wasn't that good with fine healing work and it was likely we would just end up doing more harm than good.
Alison's wound was on its second dishtowel when the ambulance arrived. I stepped back from my unconscious friend and let the paramedics do their job while Angela renewed her crying. Both women were taken away. I waved off the EMT who tried to look at my cut, watching as the double doors of the ambulance slammed and it drove away, alarm wailing.
Minnie followed close behind, carrying me to the hospital. I ended up pacing back and forth in the quiet emergency room waiting area, the shaking I'd managed to stave off starting up and taking over. It was impossible to sit still. Every time I tried, the image of Alison cutting herself drove me up and to my feet to resume my stiff walk.
I have no idea how she knew, but when Erica arrived, despite the differences we'd had, I was very glad to see her. Tears rose at last, sobbed into her shoulder as she hugged me and stroked my hair and whispered in my ear like Mom would have. Not quite the same, but good enough.
I pulled away at last, wiping at my face against the shoulder of my T-shirt. "I used magic," I whispered. "I had to."
Erica squeezed my hands. "You saved her life," she said. "You did the right thing."
How did she know?
"We all felt it," she said. "We're tied to you now, remember?"
Damn. That meant Celeste-
"Can go to bloody hell." Erica said it so firmly and with such conviction I actually laughed.
And started crying again. I let her guide me to one of the plastic chairs. I needed to be strong, but it was so hard.
"I don't know how Mom does it." It was tough to admit I was a failure, especially to her. Trying hard didn't mean getting it right.
But Erica smiled and blushed. "Actually," she said, "you're doing really well. Considering."
I snorted through my tears. "Yeah, right. A Sidhe Gate is about to open, I've used magic on a mortal and Celeste is poised to ruin everything. Nice try."
Erica's eyes met mine, shining with her own tears. "I haven't exactly had your back, have I?" She sighed deeply. "I'm so sorry, Syd. I've gotten used to Miriam saving the day. I forgot what it was like, for your mother and me, when she took over."
"What do you mean?" I wasn't really up for story time, but the distraction was welcome.
She chuckled, sweeping her blonde hair back from her face before taking my hands again. "Think about it, Syd. Your grandmother was suddenly crazy, crippled and unable to lead the coven who loved her. Miriam had to strip the family magic from her without her consent. Yes," her eyes took a sad, far away look, "Ethpeal fought her. It was horrible." She shuddered, the feeling of it traveling through her into me through her touch. "So here's Miriam, twenty one years old, with a brand new baby fathered by a demon, something the coven was just starting to accept, wrestling power from her own mother and taking over."
Holy. I had no idea. Respect and amazement surged inside me. "Poor Mom."
"They hated her for it, Syd. And then she goes and offers the remaining living Puritys a place in the coven." Erica shook her head, a little awed even after all this time. "I was sure everything would fall apart. And the fact she insisted Frank be included in coven matters... bad enough her brother was a vampire, but to make him one of us was almost the last straw."
I tried to imagine. Gram, the Enforcer come back to lead the coven then does the unbelievable and saves them all. Their hero. And along comes Mom with her unconventional ways and changes everything.
"It took her years to build their trust and confidence," she said. "So don't be hard on yourself. Remember what they've come from, most of them."
I wasn't sure if I felt better or worse about it.
The appearance of Angela meant it didn't matter.
***
